Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon

by Charles Slack

This acclaimed biography of the Gilded Age’s Queen of Wall Street is “a must-read for all aspiring moguls” (Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School).   When J. P. Morgan called a meeting of New York's financial leaders after the stock market crash of 1907, Hetty Green was the only woman in the room. The Guinness Book of World Records memorialized her as the World's Greatest Miser, and, indeed, this unlikely robber baron—who parlayed a comfortable inheritance into a fortune that was worth about 1.6 billion in today's dollars—was frugal to a fault. But in an age when women weren't even allowed to vote, never mind concern themselves with interest rates, she lived by her own rules. In Hetty, Charles Slack reexamines her life and legacy, giving us, at long last, a splendidly “nuanced portrait” (Newsweek) of one of the greatest—and most eccentric—financiers in American history.   This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.   “[Hetty’s] wry wit and colorful personality bring humor and pathos to this story. . . . [R]eaders cannot help from cheering for her at every turn.” —Booklist   “An exemplary retelling for a new generation.” —Kirkus Reviews “Entertaining. . . . Slack . . . concentrates on telling a good story and telling it well.” —Publishers Weekly   “Wonderfully detailed.” —Forbes “Page-turning.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch “Fascinating.” —New York Post

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Business, Biography Memoir, Finance, American History

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Zak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and enjoyable read on a lady I had never heard of before this. Most of us would have at least a passing familiarity with names like Jay Gould, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, etc., but how many have actually heard of Hetty Green née Hetty Howland Robinson? Dubbed "The Witch of Wall Street", she inherited a small fortune from her aunt and multiplied it many, many times over through shrewd investments and business dealings until she was widely considered the richest woman in America during its "Gilded Age". She also had the gumption to go head-to-head with the much-feared Collis P. Huntington, leader of the Big Four, who controlled most of the early American rail networks. She built up such a formidable money-lending business that newspapers used to feature headlines like "Hetty Green Cuts Rates", much like how the WSJ would report on the Fed's moves today.

Perhaps what she was most famous for at the time was her extreme miserliness despite her enormous wealth, to the extent where she brought dresses to the cleaner's and asked for only the bottom parts to be washed to save money and neighbours would see her on top of her house fixing her own roof. The writer tries to be balanced in his portrayal of her though, citing her support of as many as 30 churches at one time by providing them cheap loans at way below market rates. Yes, they were loans, not outright donations because with Hetty Green nothing came free, but still.

You will not get a step-by-step manual on how to get rich with this book but the principles she stood by are there and overall, it was an interesting bit of history.

[M.K. Hobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1996 book, The Wealthy 100, ranked the net work of 100 wealthy Americans by the percentage of the Gross National Product their personal fortunes represented. Hetty, the only woman on the list, came in 36th— five places behind Bill Gates and three places ahead of Warren Buffett.

This is a fascinating, well-written book about an amazing woman. On her own, using financial acumen unheard for a woman in her day and age (she died in 1916, at age 81), she managed to parlay a family inheritance into a fortune so large that she frequently bailed out the City of New York when they encountered cash crunches. When J.P. Morgan called a meeting of New York's financial leaders after the stock market crash of 1907, Hetty was the only woman in the room.

Commentators of the time assumed that such financial acumen had to come with a price; articles were written about how lonely and unhappy she must be. And she did have quite a few odd and sometimes disturbing pecadillos: she absolutely hated to spend money, and would haggle over the smallest items exhaustively. Her son Ned suffered the loss of his leg later in life after a boyhood sledding accident, and it was rumored that his leg could have been saved if Hetty had paid for the best medical attention instead of dragging him around to free clinics, trying to save money. Rain or snow, she walked daily from the New Jersey ferry to Wall Street (she lived in a small apartment in Hoboken) dressed in old clothing, wearing a heavy black veil to keep from being recognized. It didn't work, of course; the disguise simply earned her the nickname "The Witch of Wall Street".

Seeing past the prejudices of her time (I'm forgiving the use of the word "madness" in the book's subtitle, assuming that it was more for marketing purposes), the book paints a portrait of Hetty as a frugal woman who eschewed pretense and frivolity, loved her children, was very happy doing what she was good at. I greatly enjoyed learning more about this colorful and fascinating giant of American finance, of whom I'd known nothing previously.

[Darius · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very average book. It contains a few interesting snippets but if one wants to read about interesting business-people, there are many better options.

I found too much of the text was devoted to years before she started in business. Undoubtedly this was because the author was able to gather material about these years, not because they were very relevant in themselves.

It also turns me off when an author makes conjectures using the term "undoubtedly", which this author does more than once.

A die-hard reader of business biographies may like this book and rate it "average" as I did. A reader who is not that keen on the genre will undoubtedly be put off the the genre completely after this.

[Jeff]

Hetty Green, known to her legion of detractors as ‘the Witch of Wall Street’, became the richest woman in the world through a combination of financial genius and utter ruthlessness, living like a pauper and caring nothing for what the world thought of her. (Her two children found it much less pleasant.) Not a likable character by any means, and yet there is something (almost) admirable in the way this flinty, quintessentially New England Yankee competed with powerful men in a man’s world – and won. This is a fascinating story, now largely forgotten, with numerous local angles and locations, from New Bedford to Vermont.

-Alan

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want her money - but not by being like her. She rocks!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

My earliest memory of Hetty Green had to be in grammar school, as every year I looked forward to a revised/updated Guinness Book of World Records. There they listed Hetty Green as the "greatest miser" (although I'm not sure of their criteria), who reputedly was so cheap that her son lost a leg due to her refusal to pay for doctors.

Her biography is well-researched, and illuminating of the times (1834-1916). The Gilded Age was a time of tycoons: John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Jay Gould, Andrew Mellon, and a few Vanderbilts. Hetty Green was the only woman to make her mark among these, amassing a fortune of an estimated $100-$200 million (maybe $2.5-$5 billion in today's dollars).

While her biography is an interesting read, I've also read biographies of most of the above. They are far heftier works, but only because these men were industrialists, captains of industry, founders of corporations, and all labelled as robber barons, with the accompanying lives. Hetty was merely a wise and scrupulous investor, so her life does not get the same historical attention. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating story of a woman with extraordinary discipline which enabled her to amass a fortune as a financier at a time when nearly all major financiers were men. Unfortunately, she lived a life which didn't celebrate excess, so her character gets somewhat maligned.

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd totally dig this book. I love reading about 1. American history, 2. especially women in American history, 3. especially women beating men at their own game in American history, and 4. especially women beating men at their own game in American Victorian to Progressive-era history.

And I remembered seeing a picture of Hetty in the Guinness World Records when I was in grade school. She was deemed the world's worse miser, or something, because she ate cold oatmeal while having kajillions in the bank.

But...it seems that's the most interesting thing about her. This book put me to sleep better than a shot of sherry.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first female tycoon and a horrid miser. Evil men are interesting, evil women are fascinating.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and have read it twice.

[Dean King · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched and deftly written biography of one of the early-20th century's most intriguing Americans.

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging story about wealth and what it does to a family in the late eighteen hundreds.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enigma, eccentric, exceptional, endearing

The price of independence versus Because men have always in the past controlled history, it follows that there have always been more biographies about men than women. Some women did rate their own tome, usually they were the wives of a famous man or even more rarely, led such an amazing life, that their own life story deserved to be recorded for posterity. Hetty Howland Robinson Green belongs in the latter category. Born in 1834, Henrietta Howland, Hetty grew up during a period in which the United States was undergoing unprecedented growth. Names l Such as Vanderbilt, Carneige, Morgan, Astor, and Rockefeller formed the informal boys' only club that would ride the heady, wild wave of the Gilded Age. But if the men of the time were amassing fortunes and powers, Hetty Green could teach all of the others guys lessons about finance and she did. The only daughter and only surviving child of Edward Mott Robinson, originally of a noteworthy Philadelphia family, had come to New Bedford MA as a young man to try to establish himself in what was the lucrative business of whaling. Not only did he become employed by one of the most successful whaling companies of the time, Isaac J. Howland, Jr. and Co., he married the daughter and heiress of the huge firm, Abby Slocum Howland. Eventually he would take over the reins of the company expanding its assets and wealth. Showing a particularly adept acumen for business timing, Robinson would drive the company forward until just before the demand for whale oil and the other related products began to wane, liquidating the company assets and searching for other avenues for investment. Although Hetty's father did not hide his disappointment that his first child was a girl, he would soon have his heir in a son that he could tutor in the ways of business. Unfortunately Isaac Howland Robinson born in 1836 was never as strong as his sister Hetty and died in infancy. With his heir gone, Howland began to take more interest in Hetty, taking her with him as he attended to his duties at the whaling company. His daughter would come to be not only her father's companion, she would also from a young age read to her father regarding stock market activity, business trends, and political news. Even though she was becoming an asset to her father, Hetty was not a docile child and her caretakers discovered that a bribe, not of candy or toys but in the form of a coin, would produce cooperation from their young charge bringing her into compliance. And once she got the reward, she was loath to part with it. She accumulated any money that came her way, eventually opening her own savings account by the age of eight. While most young girl's would dream of clothing, parties and romance, Hetty's prime focus was on the accumulation of her wealth, compounding of her wealth, and protecting of her wealth. Although she would eventually marry and have two children, her Quaker roots would prevent her from acquiring so much of the ostentatious show of materialism that was flaunted by many of the other families that rocketed into wealth during this time. Hetty didn't build a mini palace in New York like Mrs. Astor did. She preferred to live in modest apartments in the middle class areas of Brooklyn or Hoboken. Instead of a fancy carriage or automobile, she took public transportation or walked. Instead of dining in restaurants, she would bring dry oats in a bucket when she left for her borrowed office space each day. At lunch she would add water to the oats and cook her porridge on the radiator. She had, however, a brilliant business mind. She had her father's sense of timing and when other's panicked, she remained steady and used the downturn to buy additional but deeply discounted investments. She lent money to churches, corporations, and even the City of New York. Before the Federal Reserve, she provided a supply of cash when the customers of banks and savings and loans were being besieged by panicked depositors. During the financial crisis of 1907, she was the only female invited to collaborate with J. P. Morgan and other financial mega stars on a plan to right the careening ship of the economy which was being overwhelmed by investment losses and bad loans Hetty was certainly an eccentric sight as she made her way around the financial sector in New York wearing her outdated, often dirty clothes, unfashionable hat whose flowers and feathers had seen better times, and carrying a large black valise which was rumored to carry fabulous sums of cash and securities, but which more likely only contained the remnants of a lunch more appropriate for a miserly laborer than a woman worth around $200 million (ten times that much in today's dollars). For Hetty Green, money provided a refuge for what would now be euphemistically referred to as "eccentricities." Even without her considerable fortune, however, she had a philosophy that was beyond any amount of wealth for "she had her life and dared

[Leo Nagasaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many years, it was the norm in the U.S. and the world at large for men to be in the foreground and women to be in the background. This book write about one of the few cases from that era. Her name was Hetty Green nicknamed witch of the wall street, and she was known to "richest women in United state" during that time. We can say she is the one of the most successful women of that century. At a time when many men had wealth and power, she had more wealth than them, about a million dollars or more, and could have taught those men. She was the only daughter of Edward Mott Robinson and Abby Slocum Howland, whose father was a wealthy man who ran a whaling fleet. Born into a very wealthy family, hetty green was initially disappointed at birth because she was a woman. She had brother but he was born with weak body he died in early age. Her dad Edward Mott Robinson soon starts taking Hetty to his wailing company, and he start realizing Hetty has extreme obsession towards money unlike other young girls who plays around with doll. As she grow up she starts building up money and open up bank account at only 8 years old. She soon married and made two children. As she make more and more money she never shows off the wealth of her. She lived her hall life like an person, she never spent money in fancy cloth, restaurant. she never get panic or be rushed, she looked thing really calm and carefully. She made a lot of profits by investing to company when they were in depression. Hetty died at 1916, 81 years old.
It was really unique to read about stingiest and richest woman on America. all the life of her It was cover in this book, the lifestyle of her was really cool to read, how she is and how she acted, after reading the book it was clear the reason why She was named by the Guinness Book of World Records the "greatest miser". Knowing what she did to make her enormous amount of profit is really beneficial. I learn that being miser sometimes help you. I loved her extreme characteristic, it is pretty rare to see kind of person like Hetty Green. My favorite part of the story was when Hetty was six or seven years old, she was sent to the dentist. like an normal children, Hetty was afraid of the dentist and cried and refused to be treated. Dentist was having difficulties, so a servant showed Hetty a 50 cent coin given to her by her mother. Hetty stopped crying and quietly accepted the dental treatment. Moreover, it is said that Hetty put the 50-cent coin she received into her piggy bank without spending it.
I recommend this book to the people who are over 14 years old. you will need over middle school level of reading comprehension, some words I had to you dictionary to know the meaning. To the people who wants to be successful or get rich I will recommend to try this book because you can understand what kind of mind set you need. I would not recommend to the person who don`t like biography because it is biography. It was definitely a quirky book but but I think this book is worth reading.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly, I didn’t want this book to end. I found Hetty such an extremely interesting person.

First thing I would like to address are that so many stories about this woman were wholly exaggerated or if true spun in such a negative way that it’s positively unfair, unwarranted and completely biased. The truth is Hetty was a brilliant businesswoman. Had she been a male back then she would have been heralded as a magnate on par with the Carnegies, JP Morgans or Vanderbilts. As it is she is barely known and if so, only as a horrible, mean spirited miser who valued money more than anything else. The story about Hetty refusing to take her son to the hospital to fix his broken leg is positively untrue. The truth is she took him to many doctors and doled out large amounts of money trying in vain to help him. When her estranged husband was dying, she came to his side and nursed him until he passed peacefully, reading to him every day and staying by his side instead of in New York where her financial empire resided.

Hetty was a Quaker. To those who don’t know, Quakers, much like Amish or even Mennonites don’t put any value in luxuries or over consumerism. So while yes, Hetty wore old, outdated clothes, owned precious little furniture save for the most basics of needs, it wasn’t because she was miserly, it was mostly due in part to her religious beliefs. True, her belongings were meager, however she did not do without. She didn’t like meagerly to the point of eschewing her needs. She ate, kept her homes appropriately heated and paid for carriage fair instead of walking.

For all the salacious stories of her miserly ways, no one ever brings up the fact that she bailed the City of New York out of financial crisis more than once. Nor do they mention the fact that she operated as her own bank and doled loans out at far less the interest rate of interest than regular banks. She did plenty of charitable donations but choose to do so anonymously. And yes, she did have some interesting schemes in her lifetime but unlike those aforementioned male counterparts, she never did anything unethical and she never exploited anyone, nonetheless, those less fortunate in order to get ahead or profit. She didn’t need to; her intelligence was all she needed to get ahead.

She was a formidable opponent in the court room and a monster at speculating the market. I truly think of her as an early feminists. She could handle finances better than most men and saw no reason why as a woman she shouldn’t be able to speculate just as the men did. She was neither fearful or intimidated by any man she met.

Reading about her made me envious. I wish I had half the mind she did. Her intelligence and her strength were both staggering and enviable.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen some pretty interesting claims on Facebook over the years about Hetty Green, which is what drew me to read this book. I'm happy to have read a well-researched and well-written book about her life which has given me a more rounded picture of her extraordinary life than just the journalistic slurs that abound so many decades after her death.

Was she eccentric? Yes, certainly, by social norms of the time. Perhaps, by social norms of any time. But would she have been judged so harshly had she been a man? Probably not, on many fronts. I learned that yes, she lived frugally (in part, due to being of the Quaker faith), but was she truly miserly - no. She lived during a time of the so-called Gilded Age of the Robber Barons or Captains of Industry, who seem to have come out of history in a much better light than she (Morgan, Astor, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, to name a few). Hetty was nothing if not financially astute. But people do not talk about the kindnesses she did to others, or the fact that she gave low-percentage loans to cities like Chicago and New York, so that they could do infrastructure improvements to better the lives of their citizens. They cling instead to untrue stories, such as her having denied healthcare to her son, who lost his leg, because she was too miserly to pay for a doctor's care and so on. The fact that she was a private person who shunned societal norms worked against her in the public eye.

Hetty did live large when it came to protecting her family's financial interests, though. There were many lively court cases that came to bear on that account. And she did keep her daughter from suitors for far too long, fearing that a romantic relationship for either of her children would be disastrous for the bottom line. Though people saw Hetty as unfeeling, she actually did have one surprising sentimentality that you will just have to read the book to discover.

[Amber Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the fastest moving biography I've read, but this definitely presented a better-balanced portrait of Hetty Green.
Hetty did have some very admirable traits. Forced to compensate for the loss of her brother, she became a financial force to be reckoned with in an age where women were often not allowed to compete financially with men. She made some of the toughest men in the business back down from her and succeeded to an amazing degree in making money.
The downside of Hetty: while many of the stories of her miserly nature are grandly exaggerated and she seems to have even had a sense of humor at times, Hetty could pinch a penny so hard it'd squeal. She definitely took the Quaker ideal of simple dress and life to heights that might make Scrooge blush. I think having only part of a skirt laundered to "save money" sounds as if it'd be more work than washing the whole thing (you'd have to work not to get everything wet) and frankly, being dirty to save on money for soap and hot water is nasty.
I think Hetty and those she loved paid quite a price for her frugality. Her husband borrowed on her money--I don't blame her for throwing a fit, what he did was inexcusable. In those days though, a husband owned his wife's money and he likely thought what he did to be ok.
To Hetty, both this and his financial failure were beyond acceptance, and I honestly can't say which was worse to her. This broke her marriage.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hetty Green, also known as the Witch of Wall Street, for his tireless shuffling around Wall Street in her shabby black dress and veils. At that time, Wall Street, and indeed, the world of business were still men’s game. However, Hetty managed to become one of the financial giants, a millionaire in the likes of Vanderbilts and Morgan. Armed with his principle to buy when nobody wants to buy and vice versa, Hetty beat men at their own game. Also the highlight of her life, her notorious miserliness. She moved around New York, New Jersey and Vermont, never stayed too long, for her fear of being identified as resident, thus forced to pay tax. And that was one of many, countless examples. She left behind her wealth to her children, who were in contrast against each other. On one side, Edward ‘Ned’ Green, the high-spending, high-roller, jet-set who seemed to be interested to collect many things. On the other side was H. Sylvia Green, who were set to follow her mother like shadow, living under her mother’s domination, freed only after finding a husband whom Hetty deemed would not be marrying Sylvia for her money. Overall, it was a refreshing reading, in a nice, quite short book.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became aware of Hetty because my sister-in-law claims her as a distant relative. Hetty was a financial genius, no question. Her skill would be remarkable at any time, but especially so for a woman to achieve this in the 19th century. Although she inherited a sizeable fortune to begin with, she had the competence, shrewdness and determination to increase it substantially. At her death in 1916, it had grown to $100 million (in today's dollars, $1.6 billion).
But this is no story of conspicuous consumption; no palatial Fifth Avenue mansions, dozens of servants, or luxurious attire for her. Born a Quaker, she deliberately chose to live very simply, a sort of genteel poverty in fact, renting small lower-class apartments, moving frequently to avoid taxes, wearing old, unfashionable clothes and getting around by public transportation. As a young woman, she had married and had two children, but left her husband a few years later after he lost a huge sum of money through risky speculation. Hetty was careful to make only safe, conservative investments; managing her fortune was her whole life. Such a seemingly joyless existence was a little sad to read about--until you consider that she totally called the shots throughout her life to live as she chose, which very few women of her time could do.

[Jasanna Czellar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very odd biography. Mostly because the subject was odd, yet interesting. Hetty was the first female Tycoon in the era of all the great railroad and oil tycoons. She had a seemingly-abrasive personality, and although she claimed to be Quaker, seemed to use it often to get her way with things. Or in a childish way. However, despite her many shortcomings and her odd ways of going about life, I have a respect for her in forging her own trail and not bending to the social peer pressure. How her children turned out, also gives some cause for thought about how she showed them what she found most valuable. She was a tough cookie, but in the end, I think the book shows well, money is just 'stuff'. And it can never buy you fulfillment.

[Tamara Willems · Rating 4 out of 5]

HETTY : The Genius and Madness of
America's First Female Tycoon
by Charles Slack

Hetty Green was the most successful female financier of the early twentieth century.
She was a headstrong, intelligent, capable, common sense, brilliant woman. She is/was often referred to as The Witch of Wall Street.
The biggest criticism I can find of her, was that she was called miserly, for accumulating wealth, while living a simple understated life.
She was criticized for not living lavishly, as did her male counterparts.
She worked hard in business, acquired real estate and railroads. She also managed to keep banks afloat while others fell.
She was a brilliant, fairly private woman, who lived exactly as she wished.

I quite liked her!

Good read ✔️

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read. I knew very little of Hetty Green until only recently and, wanting to learn more about her, I stumbled across this book.I can say it is very well written and quite engaging. The author tells a very concise history of Hetty, delving in to the basics of how she accumulated such wealth and, more interestingly, the lengths she went to keep it. What I also found interesting was when she had no issues spending her money. Those times seemed to be acts of revenge or defiance. She also gave to help where she could. In the end, which focuses on her two children, who had no children of their own, you see the statement “You can’t take it with you when you pass.” Come to full light.

A very good biography of an interesting person. 4.25 stars.

[Carmen Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise and well researched

It's all part e get life's and her contemporaries are long gone but finally someone dug in to set the record straight about Hetty Green. Hetty made some strange decisions, a lot of money and two children. But with no grandchildren in the end they couldn't take it with them. I'm reminded of the Wendel family of New York. The Wendel and Green families may have had the same money or more money than the Astors, Morgans, Vanderbilts, or Rockefellers but they lived life in a very different way. If you like to read about the gilded age, robber barrons or high society this book is for you.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and the more complete picture it provided about Hetty Green compared to the press she received at the turn of the century. I love books like this one, wherein most of the information is about the main subject of the narrative, but it also provides lots of context and information about the financial industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as some other figures of the time like J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John Rockefeller. I really enjoyed this book!

[Ercilia Delancer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about this woman and her pursuit of wealth as I had never heard of her before coming across this title. I do feel that the author did the reader a disservice in not including any photos of his subject while constantly mentioning that she had appeared in numerous newspapers and magazine articles. I feel that my reading enjoyment would have been enhanced by being able to see what she looked like as a younger woman, what her children looked like as well as the many homes she lived in.

[Cara Hinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story about a tycoon in the age with tycoons were male. She did it all on her terms. A lot of great lessons on how to make and keep your money. Really interesting that the author followed the money to the last heir. A shame there were not any heirs to keep this wealth going.

It's always interesting to read about a woman who doesn't care about the men in the room and does things her own way AND is successful.

[Cyndie Adamski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up at the used book store never thinking it might be a book I actually enjoyed reading . The author Charles Slack researched in a number of states looking for information on Hettys life. I am sure it was a large undertaking . Even though it was a biography based on whatever records he could find Mr Slack made it very interesting.
I would recommend the book especially if you are interested in strong important woman of the 1800’s.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another of the books that has had a long wait on my bookshelf. Met this author on a book tour with it first came out. I wasn't excited to start this and had low expectations of it holding my interest. I was totally wrong, I stayed up late to finish. I had never heard of Hetty Green but what an unusual woman and family.

[Bytownmary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful

A thoroughly researched book into the life and times of Hetty Green. Revealing and shocking in its rich details. Eccentric lady to say the least. Hard to relate to such incredible wealth. Hard to imagine just hoarding it and not enjoying it. How much is ever enough? So many interesting personalities from the Gilded Age in America. A book I will definitely read again.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich But Happy???

Well written biography of Hetty Green, miser and the richest woman in the US. She beat other millionaires at their own games. And in a time when women's acumen was denigrated, she won respect - grudging, to be sure - but respect. However, while she always went absolutely her own way, her implacability ruined lives.

[Millie Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been interested in Hetty Green since I was very young; we were always told we were related. But anyone who could have told me how is long since gone. Obviously it was not directly.

Very informative--I skipped over some of the financial info--admire her for being so strong in a man's world.